Bassist David Ellefson revealed which was the secret ingredient behind the hectic tempos on Megadeth’s debut album “Killing is My Business… and Business Is Good!”. C*caine, that was the secret.
Talking with “The SDRS Show”, Ellefson said:
“It was so fun in the studio playing with [Gar Samuelson], because I tell you, every time I hear, like, ”[Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!]” I can just hear, like, ‘Okay, snort a big rail’ *SNIFF* ‘Okay, ready, Rattlehead, GO! *Trrrrrrrrrrt*’
“And then by the time it gets to the break, I remember NEEDING a break, we’re just looking at each other, me, Dave, and [drummer Gar Samuelson] in the room, like, ‘ *pant pant pant* ‘Holy S*IT! That tempo was way faster than we wanted it to be!’ And then we get to the break, tempo: ‘slow down, take a break’ before we kick it back into the outro.
“So I can hear what color the powder was that we snorted at various tempo shifts within that record”